Production of caoutchouc substances.



UNITED STATES AT NT oFFroE.

FRITZ HOFMANN AND CARL COUTELLE, OF ELIBERFELD, GERMANY, ASSIGNORS TO FARBENFABRIKEN VORM. FRIEDR. BAYER &ICO.', OF ELBERFELD, GERMANY, A

CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

rnonuc'rron OF CAOUTCHOUC SUBSTANCES.

No Drawing.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914. 912. Serial No. 728,510. a

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FRITZ HoFMANrI and CARL CoU'rELLE, doctors of philosophy, chemists, citizens of the German Emp re, residing at Elberfeld, Germany, have 1nventednew and useful Improvements 1n the Production of New Caoutchouc Substances,

of which the following is a specification.

We have discovered that there are a num ber of polyhydroxy organic substances which favorably influence the polymerlzation. of "butadiene and its homologues and substitution products (isoprene, piperylene, di1 sopropenyl, etc), caoutchouc substances being thus obtainable'even at ordinary temperatures; and the present invention relates to the manufacture and. production of. such 'caoutchouc substances-from such hydrocarbons under the influence or with the addition of such polyhydroxy organic substances. As such polyhydroxy organic substances which favorably influence the polymerization reaction may be mentioned the carbohydrates, sugar and starch, (monoses, dioses and polyoses) such as invert sugar, maltose, arabinose, soluble starch, maize starch, rice starch, wheat starch, potato starch, etc.,

glycol, gylcerin, erythritol, glycogen, arrow root, tragacanth, gum arable, etc. It has been, found advantageous to usethese polyhydro-xy compounds alone or as mixtures.

In order to illustrate the invent on more fully the following 'examples are g1ven,the parts being byweight :--I. 100 parts of betagamma-dimethyl-butadiene are mlxed with 1 to 2 parts of wheat starch, and the mlxgnre is allowed to stand for some months in a closed vessel. A whitish solid caoutchouc droxy organic substances such as those above mentioned can be used in a similar manner, as well as other hydrocarbons e. g. isoprene, erythrene, etc.

Instead. ,of the specific hydrocarbons or mixturesof the foregoing examples, other hydrocarbons." can be used, c. g. the homologues and derivatives of butadiene, such as alpha methyl butadiene alpha alpha ditives.

methyl butadiene, 1 beta propylbutadiene,

beta-isobutyl'butadiene, as well as the hy-'- drocarbons hereinbefore mentioned and mixtures of them or other butadienederiva- The reaction can also be carried out 7 in the presence of non-reactive solvents and diluents, such' as benzene, ether, petroleum ether, solvent naphtha, etc. Heating also accelerates the polymerization. Futhermore the polyhydroxy organic substances already mentioned can be used alone oras mixtures 01 with the addition of other agents-such as mtrogeneous organic substances, etc., as already descrlbed.

The present application is in part a con I tinu-ation of our prior application Serial No. 652,641, filed October 3, 1911, in which the process of polymerization using urea or its equivalents, is claimed. The process of polymerizatlon using nitrogeneousoxygencontaining organic substances is claimed in our copending 728,511.

We claim v a 1. The process of producing caoutchouc application Serial No.

substances which comprises polymer zing butadiene hydrocarbons by means of a small amount of a polyhydroxy organic substance as the effective-polymerizing agent.

2. The process of producing caoutchouc substances which comprises polymerizing butadiene hydrocarbons by means of a small amount, of carbohydrate as the eifectivepolymerizing agent. Y

3. The process of producing 'caoutchouc substances which comprises polymerizing butadiene hydrocarbons by means of a 'polyose as the effective polymerizing agent. substance is thus obtained. Other polyhy 4. The process of producing caoutchouc 6. The process of producing caoutchouc substances which comprises polymerizing set our hands in the presence of) two sub- ]1:')utadiliene hydi 'ocarblgmls1 the presence of scribing witnesses.

esst an 5% o "a car 0 rate. Q 3 r 1 7. Thefprocess of prgducmg caoutchouc 3' :5 .subs tan'ges which comprises polymerizing" I Y bfitadien'e hydrocarbons in tlfe presence of Witnesses;

Iessj'thain'5% of starch. I HELEN NUFER,

- "In-testim0hy whereof Wev have hereunto s ALBERT NUFER. 

